I have a very specific problem with my 2008 Chrysler Town and Country. It has happened 4 times in the past few months and the dealership is unable to replicate the problem, so they tell me there is no problem. When I am decelerating/coasting the traction control light on the dash will come on, the power steering will go out, the RPMs will drop to zero and the gas pedal is loose and has no effect, and then the power brakes will go out. All the electrical still works, I muscle over to the side of the road, turn it off, wait a few seconds, turn it back on, it starts up just fine and I drive off with no problem.
The first three times it happened I was on the same stretch of road (which I dubbed the Bermuda Triangle Road), I was going 25 mph, the road is fairly level, the pavement was dry and it was above freezing. The fourth time was on a different road, but still level, there was snow and it was below freezing but the road was clear, and I was going about 33 mph. Each time the car had been sitting in my garage for at least a couple of hours, and it happened only a few minutes after leaving the house.
I want to take it to another dealership (it’s under a lifetime warranty), any clues I can give them to point them in the right direction?
Thank you!
How many miles are on it? In all of the times you’ve brought it in has someone at least checked the main power cables and their grounds? This would include removal, cleaning, re-tightening, and general visual inspection for corrosion or other issues. It should be done.
I get that this is a 2008, but I think you might also want to look at this recall on some 2010 models:
Is the lifetime warranty a manufacturer’s warranty? Does it cover the engine or only the transmission?
Has anyone checked the ECU for stored fault codes? If so, what were they? If not, that would be a good step to take.
Have you visited any Chrysler T&C websites for any information? Sometimes a problem will have a history without a manufacturer issued service bulletin (TSB) and the dealer won’t disclose it.
Post back.
How many miles are on this van? I was reading carefully, and the clues I picked up on were ‘same stretch of road’ and ‘few minutes after leaving the house’. The van should be programmed at start up to fast idle the engine. Once the engine reaches a certain point, the PCM will cut the idle to normal. However, there is a small window between this certain point and fully warmed up where the engine could stall because it is not fully warmed up. Based on mileage, the could be due to worn spark plugs, lower compression, or dirty throttle body and/or idle air controller (IAC). These will probably test fine on a fully warmed up engine, but a luke warm engine will suffer.
A cheap way to find out if this could be the reason is to let the van warm up until the idle drops while in the driveway, not the garage (exhaust fumes), then drive it. If it stalls out at a different spot or not at all, it’s probably something a tune up and throttle body/IAC cleaning will fix.
It has about 74,000 miles on it. We’ve had all regular scheduled maintenance on it, including tunes ups, but I don’t believe they really checked anything on it this last time other than the routine, and trying to get it to replicate, which even I can’t do. (there is also a catch in the passenger sliding door that sticks about 90% of the time, and they said they couldn’t get that to replicate either).
I find the electrical ignition recall on the 2010 Dodge interesting because my van also has an electrical short somewhere that hasn’t been located despite more than one dealership looking. During the summer (when it is hot), the battery will occasionally die, it won’t start and I’ll need to jump start the car. We are on our 3rd battery in 5 years, they should last longer than that.
I have a 2008 Chrysler T&C with 140,000 miles. For the last 2 years I have been fighting over this stalling under the same conditions you are describing. It mostly only happens within the first 2 minutes of driving, under 30 mph. Power steering goes out, traction control light pops on, I have to muscle my way to the side of the road, pop it in neutral and give it gas as I turn the ignition. I’ve had a tune up, I’ve had the ignition recall done, I’ve had multiple mechanics look at it and say they can’t figure it out. Same with a new battery almost every summer. I have remote start, and most of the time, if I remote start it for 10 minutes before I drive, it won’t stall. However, I’ve noticed its more prone to stalling in colder weather, but every once in a while it will not want to turn on at all in excessively hot weather. I’ve learned to floor the gas pedal while turning the ignition in order to get it to start. I’ll be glad when I’m rid of this van. I’m terrified I’m going to stall out when pulling out into traffic (this has happened 2x and luckily I wasn’t hit). I’m also afraid of being stranded with the kids one very hot day when it won’t turn on. It’s incredible that no one has an answer for this problem. I’ve contacted Chrysler and they told me to go back and get the ignition recall done a second time…